apropos
apropos linux command cheatsheet by Thamizhiniyan C S
Introduction
The apropos command is used to search the manual page names and descriptions.
Syntax
apropos [-dalv?V] [-e|-w|-r] [-s list] [-m system[,...]] [-M path] [-L locale] [-C file] keyword ...
Important Flags
whatis -d, --debug
Prints debugging messages.
whatis -v, --verbose
Print verbose warning messages.
whatis -e, --exact
Search each keyword for exact match.
whatis -r, --regex
Interpret each keyword as a regex.
whatis -w, --wildcard
The keyword(s) contain wildcards.
whatis -a, --and
Require all keywords to match.
whatis -l, --long
Do not trim output to terminal width.
whatis -C, --config-file=FILE
Uses user-configuration files instead of the $MANPATH.
whatis -L, --locale=LOCALE
Define the locale for this search.
whatis -m, --systems=SYSTEM
Use manual pages from other systems. Looks for man page descriptions from other OSs.
whatis -M, --manpath=PATH
Sets the search path to PATH rather than the default $MANPATH.
whatis -s, --sections=LIST, --section=LIST
Search only these sections (colon-separated). Searches only in specific man pages sections.
whatis -?, --help
Give this help list.
whatis --usage
Give a short usage message.
whatis -V, --version
Print program version.
Examples
The apropos primary usage is to find a single keyword in man pages.
Add another variable to narrow down the matches.
Achieve a similar effect without `-a` by encasing keywords in double quotes.
Find Either of Two / More Parameters
Find Exact Match
Search Specific Sections
Use Regex Symbols
Use regex to conduct an even more specific search.
As the output shows, each line includes list at the beginning, belongs to section 3 or 8, and has one of the keywords.
To avoid the trimming of descriptions in apropos command output
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